Justice League, The Movie, The Dream Casting

One reason why I’m pumped for the premiere of the new Superman movie Man of Steel on June 14th, aside from the fact that I’m a major Superman fan, is that if Man of Steel does well at the box office, then it will kick open the door for the long awaited and long speculated Justice League movie, which has been talked about as early as 2000 and it’s production has been pushed back until (???).

Many fans have different ideas about what the JL film should be like, who should be in it, what the plot will be, who the movie’s big-bad will be etc., and here at Twinsanity, it’s no exception. Since it’s going to be a little while before the JL movie comes out, I thought that I would share some of my choices for the casting of the JL movie. But first, a disclaimer:

The following is nothing more than my own choices and speculations. None of this is canon, nor is it a given that any of my choices will end up in the film. As far as I know, there isn’t even a written script for the movie as of this writing.

Now that that’s out of the way, on to the dream casting. To get the ball rolling, as it were, Let’s start with the lineup. As far as the team roster goes, I’m guessing that the JL movie will deal with the League first being formed, so then there will be about 6 or 7 main characters initially. There can’t and shouldn’t be a Justice League Army in the 1st movie. The Avengers‘ producers had a hard enough time trying to juggle screen time between 6 central characters (8 if one counts Loki and Nick Fury). Keep in mind that there’s only 90 minutes to 2 hours and you still need to have a story, an establishment of the main characters, a reason why they’re brought together and some sort of of conflict/crisis for them to resolve. To have to deal with all of those actors and egos and try to keep everyone’s parts equal would be a writing and directing nightmare, so the main group should be kept relatively small. I think that it’s a given that The Trinity will be featured in the film. No one wants to see a JL movie without Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman. No one. If people who’ve been waiting for over a decade to see a big budget movie about the Justice League and when it finally happened, what we got was this:

Fans would justifiably be ticked. If I have to wait 13 years for a Justice League movie, it had better not end up being about a bunch of “jobbers”. So yeah, you need Supes, Bats and Wondy. So that’s 3 slots taken right there.

It’s also likely that the movie will feature The Flash and a Green Lantern, who’ll most likely be Hal Jordan (but probably not one who’s played by Ryan Reynolds, who said that he’s not interested in reprising the role). The only reason to cast John Stewart over Hal Jordan would be for racial balance, but there other solutions to that, which I’ll address in a little bit. So anyway, that’s 2 more slots taken. Who else should be cast as part of the team?

Aquaman: I’m actually kind of iffy on this character’s inclusion, but the reason isn’t because I think that Aquaman is lame. Aquaman is NOT lame. The character was only shown as being impotent due to his being massively toned down on Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends TV show, and that was over 30 years ago. It’s time to let that joke die once and for all. Aquaman is King of the Sea, and the Earth is 71% water, which would mean that Aquaman is King of 71% of the planet. Arthur is also half wizard, so it would be easy to give his abilities a little boost, such as giving the character some kick-ass hydrokinetic powers. No, the reason why I’d be reluctant to use Aquaman is because he has an entire undersea kingdom to rule over, so it would present a challenge to the movie’s writers to try have the main plot revolve around the ocean in order to accommodate him.

Black Canary: No. I have nothing against Dinah Drake, but in the wake of The Avengers, using her probably wouldn’t be a good idea, since people unfamiliar with the DC comics would likely just consider her to be a ripoff of Black Widow. If BC appears at all, it should be in one of the sequels.

Green Arrow: Again, no. I mean no offense to any fans of Ollie Queen, but here it is: I’ve never been down with the idea of Green Arrow and Batman being on the same team. The Justice League doesn’t need 2 rich guys with high tech toys in place of super powers. And again, fans unfamiliar with the comics would just see GA as a Hawkeye ripoff, so it’s probably best if GA sits this one out.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman: No. I have nothing against these characters, but since the movie isn’t going to be a continuation of the WBA cartoon, we’re not going to see Shayera romancing John Stewart, and I don’t want to see Hawkwoman in the movie without her husband Hawkman, so it’s best to just avoid using both characters, as this would just be excess baggage.

We still need an ethnic, as we don’t want the JL roster to be nothing but Caucasians. As I said earlier the GL featured will most likely be Hal Jordan, so no John Stewart, but there are other choices for non-white Justice League members:

Use Cyborg. In the most recent reboot of the DC universe, Victor Stone is one of the founding members of the League, so why not go with him?

Use Martian Manhunter. Yeah, I know that J’onn J’onzz is a Martian, and that in the DC universe, Martians are green, but they’re also shapeshifters, so then J’onn could just spend much of the movie in his morphed human alias John Jones. I envision Martian Manhunter as being a CGI creation while in his Martian form while being played by an actor while in human form. Make J’onn’s human form that of a black man and that’ll solve this problem.

Years ago, someone on the internet suggested that singer/actress Jennifer Hudson could play Wonder Woman. Now, I’d be perfectly OK with an African American Diana Prince. I know that some hardcore comic fans would have a nerd rage over such a decision, but I’ve read that an African American actor is being considered for the role of the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, so why not have a black Wonder Woman? Let’s briefly review Wondy’s origin, shall we: Diana is an Amazon from the far off island of Themescara. She was sculpted out of clay by her mother Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, and was magically brought to life by the Greek goddess Hera. Nowhere in that bio does it specify that Wondy has to be white, so if someone wants to cast a black actress as Wonder Woman, it’s perfectly OK with me.

No sidekicks: Sorry, fans, but if the JL movie is going to be about the formation of the League, teen sidekicks would just be in the way. No sidekicks should show up until at least the 2nd or 3rd movie in the franchise.

Here’s my ideal scheduling of the DC films leading up to Justice League:

Man of Steel

Wonder Woman

Man of Steel sequel

The Flash

Superman/Batman Team-Up

Justice League

Only thing is this would likely push the release of Justice League back to 2016 or 2017, but if the preceding movies were good, it would be worth the wait.

Finally, there’s the question of who the movie’s villain should be. Initially, I was going to suggest Darksied, but he’s kind of a big deal. You may not want to launch the JL film with the League going up against Darkseid. It might be better to lead up to him over 2 or 3 films. Instead, the 1st JL movie could have the League squaring off against someone like Starro the Conqueror of Dr. Destiny. Perhaps the villain should be Lex Luthor or the Joker, or perhaps the 2 of them forming a temporary alliance. Or possibly a team-up of Lex and Brainiac or something similar. Or perhaps an invasion of the White Martians. I know that I’ve mostly been suggesting Superman villains here, but that’s mainly because aside from the Joker or Ra’s Al Ghoul, most of the Batman villains are freaks and weirdos with a gimmick who’d get their butts handed to them by the Justice League. The movie would go much better if evil at least stood a chance.

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In the comics, way back in the day—and I do mean, way, way, way back—-they had a Black Amazon–Nubia. Even merited an action figure from Mego in the mid-70's. I'd use her in a sequel, but not in the first film.

Casting ideas:

Superman: Henry CavillBatman: I wouldn't use Ben Affleck. If they go with Affleck, then you're likely to get a package deal, with Matt Damon as either GL or GA and Jennifer Garner (Mrs. Affleck) as Wonder Woman. Then again, we all remember how Daredevil & Elektra fared at the box office, don't we?

My pick? Mark Wahlberg. I'm not kidding.

Martian Manhunter: When J'onn was used on Smallville, they did use an African-American actor, IIRC, and he was voiced by one (Carl Lumbly) on JL. I'd say Jamie Foxx, but Sony signed him up for that Spider-Man sequel. Not sure who to go with.

Green Lantern: If John Stewart, I'd pick LL Cool J. If Hal Jordan, sub out Ryan Reynolds in exchange for Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Yeah, the Saved By the Bell jokes would follow, but MPG has gotten past that the last 20 years……..

Flash: Not sure on this one, either.

For girl power to go with WW, I'd plug in Zatanna. I'll leave it to you to figure out how to cast that role.